DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0200Z August 28, 2017
SMOKE: Pacific Coast... Fires across central British Columbia were seen producing smoke that is combining with smoke with smoke from fires in Washington, Oregon, and northern California to produce a smoke layer blanketing the region. The layer also extended out over the near-shore Pacific Ocean south across the San Joaquin Valley, where another wildfire contributed moderate to heavily thick smoke to the plume. Intermountain West into western Great Plains... Wildfires throughout southeastern British Columbia, Idaho, and Montana were producing a varying density smoke plume that extends southeastward into western Kansas. Many individual smoke plumes produced very thick smoke plumes, which contributed to the overall light to moderate smoke plume. The Lolo peak fire appears to have been the biggest individual contributor, with moderate to thick remnant smoke easily visible. Eastern North America.... Fires located throughout central Saskatchewan are producing impressive smoke plumes that are contributing to a large area of varying density smoke across eastern Canada and northeastern CONUS. The smoke plumes were emitting thick smoke, with moderate to heavily dense smoke across central Manitoba, eastern Ontario, and far northwestern Minnesota. Fires across central Ontario also contributed to the larger area of light smoke, with the production of a moderate smoke plume extending to the northeast across Hudson Bay. Utah... A wildfire in Central Utah has been producing smoke throughout the day, with an eruption of very dense smoke after 2300Z. The light density smoke extends south into northeastern Arizona with moderate density smoke surrounding the plume and extending to the south into east-central Utah. DUST: Yucatan Peninsula/Central America/Western Caribbean A Saharan Dust layer is observed over the eastern Yucatan Peninsula, Belize, northern Honduras, and the westernmost portions of the Caribbean Sea. This dust layer was drifting towards the west and northwest. Central Atlantic A second Saharan dust layer can be seen entering the GOES-East Visible imagery over the central Atlantic Ocean. This layer was seen moving off to the west toward or just north of the Leeward Islands. Hosley THIS TEXT PRODUCT IS PRIMARILY INTENDED TO DESCRIBE SIGNIFICANT AREAS OF SMOKE ASSOCIATED WITH ACTIVE FIRES AND SMOKE WHICH HAS BECOME DETACHED FROM THE FIRES AND DRIFTED SOME DISTANCE AWAY FROM THE SOURCE FIRE. TYPICALLY OVER THE COURSE OF ONE OR MORE DAYS. AREAS OF BLOWING DUST ARE ALSO DESCRIBED. USERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO VIEW A GRAPHIC DEPICTION OF THESE AND OTHER PLUMES WHICH ARE LESS EXTENSIVE AND STILL ATTACHED TO THE SOURCE FIRE IN VARIOUS GRAPHIC FORMATS ON OUR WEB SITE: JPEG: http://www.ospo.noaa.gov/Products/land/hms.html GIS: http://www.firedetect.noaa.gov/viewer.htm KML: http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/PS/FIRE/kml.html ANY QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS REGARDING THIS PRODUCT SHOULD BE SENT TO SSDFireTeam@noaa.gov